USA > Maine > Piscataquis County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook counties, Maine > Part 61
USA > Maine > Aroostook County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook counties, Maine > Part 61
USA > Maine > Hancock County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook counties, Maine > Part 61
USA > Maine > Washington County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook counties, Maine > Part 61
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook counties, Maine > Part 61
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APTAIN JOSHUA B. JOHNSON,* a retired schoolmaster of Gouldsboro, Hancock County, and a Civil War veteran, was born in East Sullivan, Me., May 15, 1821, son of Stephen and Hannah (Bick- ford) Johnson. His paternal grandfather, John Johnson, who came from York, Me., to Sullivan, first settling near the present steam- boat landing, at a later date exchanged his farm in that place for one in East Sullivan, and resided there for the rest of his life. He attained a good old age. The maiden name of his wife was Young. Stephen Johnson, son of John, was a lifelong resident of East Sulli- van. His active years were devoted to farm- ing and lumbering. In connection with the
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latter business he conducted saw-mills. Upon the homestead farm, which he inherited, he erected a new house, and the property is still owned in the family. At his death he was eighty-four years old. He married Hannah Bickford, whose children by him were: Bet- sey, Abigail, Teresa, Sarah, Hannah, Elea- nor, Olive, Mahala, Stephen, John, and Joshua B. Of these, ten grew to maturity; and the only survivor is Joshua B., the subject of this sketch.
Having begun his education in the district schools of his native town, Joshua B. Johnson completed his studies at the Charleston Acad- emy. Thereafter he taught schools in Goulds- boro, Sullivan, Franklin, Ellsworth, Mill- bridge, Harrington, Cherryfield, and the high school in Machias, Me. He retired from the profession in 1884, after having taught in all for one hundred and fourteen terms. In 1862 he enlisted for service in the Civil War, being mustered in as Captain of Company C, Twenty-eighth Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry, which served under General Banks; and he was honorably discharged at Augusta in the fall of 1863. Some fifty years ago he began the erection of a brick house, moulding the material himself with clay taken from the Johnson homestead. The residence he still occupies is distinguished as being the only brick building upon the street.
Captain Johnson has lost three wives, and is now living with his fourth. He contracted his first marriage with Olive S. Hill, whose only son, Enoch H. Johnson, became a ship- master at the age of twenty-one, and died of
pneumonia off the coast of Australia. The captain's second wife, Elizabeth Ilill John- son, bore him two children, one of whom died in infancy. The survivor is Andrew C. John- son, who resides at Young's Hotel, Boston. By the third union, which wedded him to Mrs. Caroline Hill Berry, there were two chil- dren : Maria, now a stenographer in Boston; and Lewis, who did not reach maturity. The maiden name of his present wife was Henri- etta H. Hall. Captain Johnson has served with abilitytas a Selectman, Overseer of the Poor, Town Clerk, Supervisor of Schools, and upon the School Committee. In all of these offices he has displayed an earnest desire to forward the best interests of the community. Originally a Democrat in politics, he cast his first Presidential vote for James K. Polk in 1844. Since the breaking out of the Rebel- lion he has acted with the Republican party. He is a comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic and a Past Commander of D. L. Weir Post, No. 89.
ON. GEORGE REYNOLDS GARD- NER, attorney-at-law and Judge of Probate for Washington County, Maine, residing in Calais, was born on Janu- ary 14, 1852, at Dennysville, Me., being the eldest son of A. L. Raymond and Abbie Wilder (Reynolds) Gardner and a descendant of several prominent English and Colonial families.
The Gardner name is on record in Dorset- shire, England, for three centuries prior to
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1600. The first of the family in New Eng- land was Thomas Gardner, who came over in 1623, and was prominent among the colonists at Cape Ann, holding the office of overseer of the plantation. In 1626 he, with a number of others, removed from the Cape to Naum- keag, soon to be known as Salem. From an interesting account of the "Old Planters of Salem," in volume one, Essex Institute His- torical Collections, we learn that "Mr. Thomas Gardner" received a grant of one hundred acres of land at Salem in 1636, that he afterward received other grants, that he was admitted freeman in 1637, and the same year was a member of the General Court. The same paper mentions Thomas Gardner, second ("supposed son of Thomas, the first "), as a freeman in 1641, and says that he married first Margaret Frier and second Damaris Shattuck.
Savage makes the same mention of a son Thomas, and speaks of a son Joseph, who married Ann Downing, and also of Samuel, born about 1629, presumably a son of Thomas, first (possibly son of Thomas, sec- ond). After the death of Joseph Gardner his widow became the second wife of Gov- ernor Simon Bradstreet.
Samuel Gardner, of Salem, from whom Judge Gardner, of Calais, is descended, served as a Selectman in 1686 and as Representa- tive to the General Court in 1681, 1682, and 1685. He married Mary White, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Herbert) White and a grand-daughter of John Herbert, who was at one time Mayor of Northampton, England.
She died September 16, 1678, and he died in October, 1689. He was survived by only three of his children - Jonathan, Hannah, and Abel, the youngest of the family. Abel Gardner was born September 1, 1673, and died November 10, 1739. He was a mer- chant. His wife, Sarah Porter, daughter of Israel and Elizabeth (Hathorn) Porter, was born August 24, 1675, and died September 24, 1728. Her father was baptized in Hing- ham, Mass., February 12, 1643, and died in Salem, Mass., well advanced in years. Her mother was the daughter of Major William Hathorn, an ancestor of Nathaniel Haw- thorne. John Porter, father of Israel, came from England to Hingham, Mass., in 1635, removed to Salem a few years later, and died there, September 6, 1676. His wife, Mary, died February 6, 1683.
Thomas Gardner, son of Abel and Sarah (Porter) Gardner, was baptized October 4, 1705, and died before February 26, 1753. On February 13, 1728, he married Eunice Waters. She was born August 18, 1706. a daughter of John Waters, Jr., who was born in 1665. Her grandfather, John Waters, Sr., born November 27, 1640, mar- ried March 6, 1663, Sarah Tompkins, born February 1, 1642, daughter of John Tomp- kins. John Waters, Sr., was a son of Richard Waters, a gunsmith, who emigrated to Salem at an early day, and grandson of James and Phoebe (Manning) Waters. Phoebe Manning was a daughter of George Manning, of Kent County, England, an an- cestor of Cardinal Manning. One of George
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Manning's ancestors, it is said, married a sister of the poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, she being a daughter of John Chaucer and a grand- daughter of Richard Chaucer, who was born about 1275.
Ebenezer Gardner, Sr., the fifth in this an- cestral line, son of Thomas and Eunice, born at Salem, Mass., in August, 1735, died No- vember 21, 1832, at Machiasport, Me. His wife, Damaris, was born at Haverhill, Mass., August 2, 1747, a daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Gordon) Merrill. Her father was born September 15, 1704. He sold his share in a pottery business at Roxbury, Mass., and went to Aukpague, Cumberland County, N.S., whence in 1776 he removed to Machiasport, Me. Because of overt acts against the author- ity of Great Britain his property was confis- cated. In 1778 he served in the American army under Captain Stephen Smith and Colo- nel Benjamin Foster; and in 1779 he was in Lieutenant John Scott's company, in the Sixth Lincoln County Regiment. He was subsequently granted a thousand acres of land for his ardent and laudable attachment to the American cause and for his "merits and sufferings."
Ebenezer Gardner, son of Ebenezer, Sr., and Damaris (Merrill) Gardner, was born January 31, 1776, and died February 5, 1857. He married May 28, 1803, Sarah D., who was born at Scarboro, Me., daughter of William and Ellen (Dillaway) Albee. Her father served for a time in the Revolution as Lieu- tenant in a company of artillery commanded by Captain John Preble, and later, being as-
signed to Colonel John Allen's regiment, did duty at Machias from May 18, 1777, until May 1, 1781.
A. L .. Raymond Gardner, son of Ebenezer and Sarah D. (Albee) Gardner and father of George R., was born at East Machias, Me., January 19, 1822, and until the age of fifteen years worked on the home farm. Going then to Dennysville, he lived for some years with an older brother, and from him learned the blacksmith's trade, at which he continued until 1865. In that year he established him- self in the mercantile business by opening a general store, which he conducted successfully in connection with farming and blacksmithing until his death, April 23, 1891. On Septem- ber 5, 1848, he married Abbie Wilder Rey- nolds, who was born in Dennysville, February 21, 1830, a daughter of Captain Bela R. Reynolds. Of their six children, five grew to adult life, namely: George Reynolds, of Calais; Edwin Raymond, of Dennysville, born June 11, 1854; Charles Otis, of East- port, born September 2, 1856; Eva May, of Dennysville, born March 28, 1858; and Fred- erick Lee, of Dennysville, born April 3, 1862. The first child, Julia Raymond, born May 3, 1850, died February 11, 1851. The father attended the Congregational church, of which his wife was a member. He was him- self a life member of the American Missionary Association.
The emigrant ancestor of this branch of the Reynolds family was Robert Reynolds, who is known to have been in Boston in 1632, hav- ing come from England with his wife, Mary,
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and all of their children. On June 10, 1634, he was admitted to membership in the First Church, and on September 3 he was made a freeman. In 1635 he moved to Watertown, and thence he went to Wethersfield, Conn. He received his dismissal from the First Church on March 29, 1636, in order that he might form a church at Wethersfield. Subse- quently returning to Boston, both he and his wife died in that city, his death occurring April 27, 1659, and hers January 13, 1663. In 1645 he owned the lot, nearly opposite the Old South Church on Milk Street, Boston, where in later years stood the building in which Benjamin Franklin was born. This land he willed to his son Nathaniel. Ac- cording to Drake's History, on April 27, 1691, the town of Boston granted to Josiah Franklin, father of Benjamin, liberty to erect a building on the land belonging to Nathaniel Reynolds, situated near the South Meeting- house.
Nathaniel Reynolds, born in England, was admitted as a freeman in Boston in 1665, and in 1676 was designated as Captain, probably for service in King Philip's War as com- mander of a company of artillery under Colo- nel Church. He was Lieutenant in Artillery Company, Suffolk Regiment, Boston, which subsequently became the celebrated Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. Remov- ing to Bristol, R.I., he "became one of the principal men of that town." He died there July 10, 1708. In November, 1657, he was married by Governor Endicott to Sarah, daughter of John Dwight, of Dedham. She !
died July 8, 1663. He afterward married Priscilla, daughter of Peter Brackett.
Nathaniel Reynolds, a descendant of the Nathaniel above named, married Lydia Ray- mond, and subsequently removed to Nova Scotia, where she, undoubtedly, died. He was a "malignant rebel" against the authority of King George III .; and, returning to New England in 1776, he served in the Revolu- tion, in which he had a most romantic war record. At the close of the struggle he was granted lands by the government in Marietta, Ohio, but instead of taking possession of his grant he removed to the wilderness of Maine, locating in Lubec. He then married again, going to Marblehead, Mass., for that purpose, and on his passage back to Lubec he was knocked overboard and drowned.
Jonathan Reynolds, born at Fort Cumber- land, N. S., March 7, 1774, son of Nathaniel, married Persis, daughter of Captain The- ophilus Wilder, of Hingham, Mass., and set- tled in Pembroke, Me., where he died in 1866. His son, Captain Bela R. Reynolds, was born September 15, 1797, and died May 10, 1853. Captain Reynolds married a cousin, Deborah Wilder, daughter of Eben- ezer C. and Abigail (Ayer) Wilder and grand- daughter of Captain Theophilus Wilder.
The "Book of the Wilders" says that the first Wilder known to history was Nicholas, a military chieftain in the army of the Earl of Richmond at the battle of Bosworth in 1485, and that he received from King Henry VII. in 1497 a landed estate with a coat of arms. John, son of Nicholas, was father of John,
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Jr., the third owner of the estate, who married Alice Keats, daughter and heiress of Thomas Keats, Esq. Thomas Wilder, fourth son of John and Alice, is said to have become the owner of the family residence at Shiplake, England. Mrs. Martha Wilder, thought to have been the widow of Thomas, who dicd in 1634, came to America in 1638 in the ship "Confidence." She had a grant of land that year at Hingham, Mass., for a house lot. Her son Edward had a grant of ten acres at Hingham in October, 1637. (See History of Hingham.)
Edward Wilder married Elizabeth Eames, and died October 18, 1690. Jabez Wilder, son of Edward, born in 1658, married in 1692 Mary Ford. His son Theophilus married in 1732 Mary Hersey; and the line was contin- ued through their son, Captain Theophilus Wilder, who was born May 16, 1740, and married Lydia Cushing. Hc served with dis- tinction in the Revolution. On September 26, 1776, he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the regiment of Stephen Penniman, and on December I of that year was made Captain of a company in the regiment of Colonel Nicho- las Dyke. On July 27, 1780, he was assigned to the regiment of Colonel Benjamin Thayer, Jr., and was present at the surrender of Corn- wallis, October 19, 1781. He was the father of Ebenezer C. Wilder, named above, great- great-grand-father of George R. Gardner, the subject of this sketch.
Other ancestors of Mr. Gardner were: Thomas Lincoln, who came from England prior to 1675; and Matthew Cushing, born in
England in 1589, who arrived in Boston, Au- gust 10, 1638.
George R. Gardner in young manhood, after completing his course of study at the Dennys- ville High School, spent some years in San Francisco, where he pursued a course of study at Woodbury College, read law, and at- tended law lcctures. Returning to Dennys- ville and subsequently coming to Calais, he continued the study of law. He was admitted to the bar two years later in 1880, and began the practice of his profession in Calais. In 1881 he formed a partnership with the late Hon. Enoch Blanchard Harvey, who died July 8, 1896, and with him built up a large clientagc, the firm being one of the best known in this section of the State. In 1888 Mr. Gardner was elected Judge of the Courts of Probate and Insolvency for Washington County for a term of four years, and he has since been twice re-elected to the same office, in 1892 and 1896.
Through his father, who was one of the first Odd Fellows of Washington County, Mr. Gardner became interested in that order, and united with Fellowship Lodge, No. 97, in which he now holds the office of Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He is very active in the Masonic fraternity, belonging to St. Croix Lodge, No. 46, F. & A. M., of which he is Past Master; to St. Croix Chapter, R. A. M .; to the Hugh de Payens Command- ery, K. T., No. 15; and to the Delta Lodge of Perfection, of Machias. He is likewise a member of Calais Lodge, No. 45; K. of P., of which he is Past Vice-Chancellor; vice-
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president of the St. Croix Club; and a mem- ber of the American Sons of the Revolution. He is one of the directorate of the Jackson and Lakeview Mining Company of California, a director of the Dennysville Lumber Com- pany, and for many years has been a trustee of the Calais Savings Bank. He takes great interest in the cause of education, and, in addition to serving for a number of years on the Board of Education, has been a trustee of Washington Academy and of the Calais Acad- emy.
On January 25, 1888, Mr. Gardner married Miss Annie E., daughter of James and Mary (Parkman) Robbins, of Calais, a near kins- woman of the late Hon. Francis Parkman, the historian. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gardner are members of the First Parish Congregational Church, and for twelve years he has been superintendent of its Sunday-school.
BED TOWNE,* a thriving farmer of East Dover and station agent for the Bangor & Aroostook Railway, was born in this town, July 8, 1827, son of Eli and Betsey Longley Towne. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Towne, was one of the early settlers of Wilton, N.H. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and fought at the battle of Bennington. The last days of this patriotic ancestor were passed in East Dover, where he died at the age of eighty-four.
Eli Towne, Obed Towne's father, was born in Wilton, August 10, 1774. In early mature life he followed the trade of a blacksmith in
New Hampshire. He is said to have been the first permanent settler in Piscataquis County, having arrived here in 1803. Locat- ing upon a tract of two hundred acres in what is now East Dover, he improved one of the best farms in this locality. He worked at his trade for a time, but eventually devoted his whole time to general farming. He was in- dustrious and successful, making the best use of his opportunities. In his younger days he took an active part in public affairs, and was one of the first Selectmen of the town. In politics' he was a Democrat. He was twice married, and of his union with Betsey Script- ure, his first wife, were born four children ; namely, Alvin, Eli, Betsey, and Ezra, none of whom are living. Betsey Longley, his second wife, was born in Norridgewock, Me., August 29, 1790. Her father, Zachariah Longley, who served as a fifer in the Revolutionary War and was present at the surrender of Gen- eral Burgoyne, was an early settler of that town. The children of Eli Towne by his sec- ond union were: Irene, Opha, Ezra, Achsah, Bertha, Obed, and Leander. Of these the only survivors are: Ezra, who occupies a part of the old homestead; and Obed, the subject of this sketch. Eli Towne died October 21, 1852, and his wife died October 28, 1848. They were members of the Baptist church.
Obed Towne has always resided in East Dover, and since leaving school has been en- gaged in general farming. He inherited a portion of the homestead property, which he has cultivated with good results, and he has owned other real estate. He was appointed
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station agent for the Bangor & Piscataquis Railroad when the line reached Dover; and, when the road passed into the hands of the Bangor & Aroostook County, he was retained in that position. He is connected with the Masonic fraternity and the Patrons of Husban- dry, and in politics he acts with the Demo- cratic party.
On April 4, 1849, Mr. Towne was joined in marriage with Lurana Currier, born in Vienna, Kennebec County, Me., July 12, 1824, daughter of Edmund and Catherine Currier. Mrs. Towne is the mother of four children, namely: Viola D., born April 2, 1850; Anna C., born June 5, 1853; Charles E., born April 9, 1857; and Lizzie M., born November 6, 1861. Viola D. married Joseph Smith, and resides at home. Anna C., who also resides at home, is the wife of Charles C. Titcomb, and has two children - Mabel L. and Elmer E. Charles E. married Betsey Moore, and lives in the West. Lizzie M. is the wife of A. C. Getchell, of East Dover, and has one child. Mrs. Obed Towne attends the Methodist Episcopal church.
| DWARD L. HOUGHTON,* a promi- nent hardware merchant of Fort Fairfield, Aroostook County, was born Octo- ber 12, 1860, in Anson, Somerset County, Me., which was also the birthplace of his father, William Houghton. The Houghton family, having originated in England, was first represented on American soil by two brothers who crossed the ocean in the latter
part of the eighteenth century. One of them settled in Massachusetts, and the other one, the great-grandfather of Edward L., located in Maine. William Houghton was a son of Luke Houghton, a well-known resident of Anson. He remained in Anson for some years after his marriage with Dorcas Cutts, of New Portland, Me., and then removed with his family to Fort Fairfield, which he made his permanent home.
Edward L. Houghton was fitted for college at the Hallowell Classical School; but in- stead of entering Bowdoin, as had been his original intention, he became clerk in the hardware store of E. K. Cary, a position which he retained for two years. During the sub- sequent twelve years he was the junior member of the firm of L. K. Cary & Co. Having dis- posed of his interest in that firm, he opened a real estate and insurance office in the Fessen- den Building. Four years later, in April, 1896, he and his brother, George A. Hough- ton, bought out the hardware establishment of L. K. Cary, and formed the corporation known as the Houghton Hardware Company, of which Edward L. Houghton is president, and George A. Houghton treasurer. This enterprising firm carries on the most extensive business of the kind in this part of the county. Mr. Houghton still continues his real estate busi- ness, in which he has been quite successful. He and fourteen others built the section of the town called Syndicate, the site of which was previously a farm. Having laid out the land in streets and lots, they built several houses, of which twenty-two or twenty-three have been
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sold. This was a veritable boom to the town, in which for many years it had been almost impossible to buy or rent a house to live in. Mr. Houghton is also a large stockholder of the A. H. Weeks Company, which has eight hundred and seventy-eight acres of land de- voted to the raising of potatoes. The other members of the firm are A. H. Weeks, of Bos- ton, and W. H. Poole, of Fort Fairfield, the president and general manager. The New Limestone branch of the Northern Aroos- took Railroad runs through the centre of their land, and the station from which their products are shipped is called Houghton village. Own- ing nearly half the stock of the Aroostook Valley Starch Factory, which was begun in 1892 with a capital of nine thousand nine hundred dollars, he is both a director and the clerk of the corporation. . The factory has a capacity of sixteen tons a day, and has pro- duced six hundred tons some years. The out- put for several previous months was held in stock until August, 1897, when it was sold at a good profit. Formerly he owned a similar factory at Mars Hill. Mr. Houghton finds that he has now altogether too much to do in attending to his various interests, and intends to withdraw from the potato business and the insurance agency, and to limit his trans- actions in real estate to property in the town.
Taking much interest in local affairs, Mr. Houghton is one of the most active members of the Republican party. In 1894 he was elected to the State legislature, and he was re-elected in 1896. During his first term in the House he was a member of the Finance
Committee; and in the second term he was in the Committees on Finance, State College, and Ways and Means. By hard fighting in the first year he secured an appropriation to establish an aslyum for the insane at Bangor, but it was defeated in the next term. He was successful, however, in securing the passage of the bill altering the name of the Maine State College to Maine University and giv- ing it an appropriation of twenty thousand dollars for ten years. He is one of the county directors of the Bangor & Aroostook Railway. Prominently connected with several secret societies of this locality, he is a member of the Blue Lodge of Masons, Captain of the Odd Fellows Canton, and a Knight of Pythias. His religious beliefs are those of the Congre- gationalists. By his marriage with Susie W., daughter of L. K. Cary, his former partner in business, he is the father of two children - Gertie E. and Alfred C.
ILLIAM B. CLEMENT,* one of the stirring business men of Penob- scot, Hancock County, was born in this town, March 26, 1851, son of William and Silvia (Leach) Clement. His paternal grandfather, Daniel Clement, a native of York, Me., and a farmer and fisherman, settled in Penobscot at an early date, and cleared from the wilderness a large farm located on the Goshen shore.
William Clement, the father, was born at the homestead. In early life he was a seafar- ing man. After succeeding to the home farm, he carried it on for many years, and lived to
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be eighty-six years old. Silvia Clement, his wife, who was a daughter of John and Abigail Leach, became the mother of two sons - Frank M. and William B. Frank M. Clem- ent, who resides at the homestead, succes- sively married Addie Littlefield and Inez Varnum, and has two daughters - Flora and Rose.
After finishing his studies in the district schools William B. Clement engaged in farm- ing, lumbering, and butchering, and for a number of years has supplied the people of Castine with meat. He married Rose Snow- man, who died leaving two children - Addie and Dele. He has supported the Republican party in politics since he cast his first Presi- dential vote for U. S. Grant in 1872, and he has ably filled several town offices.
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